Russia, China, Japan, and Mexico have confirmed that they will not be attending the G20 meeting held this month in Rome which Italian officials hope will be an in-person event. While Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will be taking part via video link, Mexico will be sending Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard in place of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. United States President Joe Biden has confirmed his presence at the Oct. 30-31 meeting along with leaders from Germany, France, Britain, Canada, Australia, India, Turkey, Argentina, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Indonesia, and the European Union. Obrador has generally avoided traveling outside Mexico since taking office in 2018. He did not attend the G20 summit in 2019 before the pandemic went global. According to RIA, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin was avoiding the trip because of the recent upsurge in daily new COVID-19 …